ProShare Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,908 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 41.4% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 187,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,259,000 after buying an additional 54,990 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,335,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,572,000 after purchasing an additional 67,469 shares during the period. CCM Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,867,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,317,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,422,000 after purchasing an additional 42,484 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 214.5% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 73,567 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,841,000 after purchasing an additional 50,176 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on FE. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Argus raised FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.45.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.4 %

FE stock opened at $43.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.10 billion, a PE ratio of 25.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.50. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $32.18 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $42.79 and a 200 day moving average of $40.12.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.56. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 12.12%. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.90%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 97.70%.

About FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy Corp., through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in the United States. It operates through Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments. The company owns and operates coal-fired, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power generating facilities.